Guardian Cryptic 27,500 by Paul

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27500.

Maybe it is just me, but I am finding Paul more difficult that a while ago. He continues to find inventive wordplays, not all of which are to everyone’s taste. However, there is nothing too intractable here, although it took a while for the penny to drop in the wordplay for 19D BISTRO. All good fun; thank you, Paul.

Across
1 TROOPER Recollection of news about old soldier (7)
An envelope (‘about’) of O (‘old’) in TROPER, a reversal (‘recollection’) of REPORT (‘news’).
5 GAS LAMP Something burning, opening blast rents asunder (3,4)
An envelope (‘rents asunder’) of SLAM (‘blast’) in GAP (‘opening’). I think.
9   See 16
10 FILM ACTOR Getting into part, I’m embracing challenge most profoundly — and so I should! (4,5)
A double envelope (‘getting into’ and ’embracing’), of L (‘chalLenge most profoundly’. Not my favourite construct.) in ‘I’m’ in FACTOR (‘part’), with an extended definition.
11   See 28
12 THAI Asian couple is talked about (4)
Sounds like (‘is talked about’) TIE (‘couple’)
14 OESOPHAGEAL Energy invested in design of a logo, shape of a tube (11)
An envelope (‘invested in’) of E (‘energy’) in OSOPHAGEAL, an anagram (‘design’) of ‘a logo shape’.
18 HOUSE ARREST Time required to tour Med, say, relax restriction on leaving home (5,6)
A charade of HOUSEAR, an envelope (‘required to tour’) of SEA (‘Med, say’) in HOUR (‘time’); plus REST (‘relax’)’
21 PAVE Pudding appearing very enticing initially, put on a stone or two? (4)
First letters (‘initially’) of ‘Pudding Appearing Very Enticing’`
22 IMPOVERISH Ruin arch, crushing above (10)
An envelope (‘crushing’) of OVER (‘above’) in IMPISH (‘arch’).
25 IN-YER-FACE Aggressive, any fierce criminal (2-3-4)
An anagram (‘criminal’) of ‘any fierce’.
26 OSTIA Seen from behind in portrait, some Roman port (5)
A hidden reversed (‘seen from behind’) answwer in ‘portrAIT SOme’
27 GIRONDE French department eroding and ignored, unfortunately (7)
Anagrams (‘unfortunately’)  of ‘eroding’ and ‘ignored’.
28, 11 THE MORE THE MERRIER Dog kennels re-home strays, those all welcome (3,4,3,7)
An envelope (‘kennels’) of HEMORE, an anagram (‘strays’) of ‘re-home’, plus THEM (‘those’) in TERRIER (‘dog’).
Down
1 TOMATO Red male, little bit lacking in tail (6)
A charade of TOM (‘male’, particularly of a cat) plus ATO[m] (‘little bit’) minus its last letter (‘lacking in tail’).
2 OILMEN Having bandaged bad cut, sign people operating well? (6)
An envelope (‘having bandaged’) of IL[l] (‘bad’) minus its last letter (‘cut’) in OMEN (‘sign’).
3 PASSED OVER Ignored port that’s old-fashioned? (6,4)
A charade of PASSÉ (‘old-fashioned’) plus DOVER (‘port’).
4 REFER Look up, one way or the other (5)
A palindrome (‘one way or the other’).
5 GILLESPIE Bit of fish seen without tail, might a cat have followed him? (9)
A charade of GILL (‘bit of fish’) plus ESPIE[d] (‘seen’) minus its last letter (‘without tail’), for Dizzy Gillespie, the ‘cat’ baing a jazz afficionado.
6 SOAP Sweetener coating a cake or bar? (4)
An envelope (‘coating’) of ‘a’ in SOP (‘sweetened’).
7 ART THIEF Picnicker, by the sound of it? (3,5)
One who nicks pics. A pun with no real definition.
8 PARTICLE Phosphorus, maybe a bit (8)
A charade of P (chemical symbol, ‘phosphorus’) plus ARTICLE (‘maybe a’).
13 BATTLEDORE Old sport, through which one might join the action, did you say? (10)
Sounds like (‘did you say’) BATTLE DOOR (‘through which one might join the action’). Ouch!
15 SCRUMMAGE Forward movement not entirely substandard, guru admits (9)
An envelope (‘admits’) of CRUMM[y] (‘substandard’) minus its last letter (‘not entirely’) in SAGE (‘guru’). Is a scrummage necessarily a forward movement?
16, 9 SHOPPINGMALLS One leg in the air, donning knickers in public places (8,5)
An envelope (‘donning’) of HOPPING (‘one leg in the air’) in SMALLS (‘knickers’).
17 SURVEYOR Inspector of property (ours very unreliable) (8)
An anagram (‘inreliable’) of ‘ours very’.
19 BISTRO Devil eggs in audition for restaurant? (6)
Sounds like (‘in audition’) BEAST ROE (‘devil eggs’).
20 PHRASE Literary group gets stressed reading aloud? (6)
Sounds like (‘reading aloud’) FRAYS (‘gets stressed’).
23 OVETT Check in books for runner (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of VET (‘check’) in OT (Old Testament, ‘books’), for Steve Ovett.
24 GRAN Experienced woman taking £800? (4)
‘£800’ is four-fifths of a GRAN[d]. The question mark is definitely merited.
completed grid

52 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,500 by Paul”

  2. I usually wait till my corner shop opens and fetch the paper and solve in the old-fashioned way, but occasionally, if waking early, do it online, without pen and paper on the side – and it’s so different that way, and generally more testing, as today with Paul. Maybe others print out and take it from there, but somehow it seems more in the spirit of things to just work with the page and the keyboard, or is this pedantic? – well, everyone has their own systems. I tend anyway to agree with Peter0 about Paul getting more difficult overall, though not every time. On 15d: a SCRUMMAGE surely always involves some ‘movement’ among the forwards, even if not necessarily in a forward direction. Three sport clues today, to go with the five homophones (and with the very welcome Ted Dexter two days ago).

  3. “Is a scrummage necessarily a forward movement?” It seems,more often than not, that the main movement is collapsing or being reset!

  4. As quenbarrow says, it’s a movement of forwards rather than a forward movement. Anyway, it defeated me, as did BISTRO, IMPOVERISH, and the reason why a cat might follow GILLESPIE, who I got from the wordplay but couldn’t identify. A very tough Paul, but the pic-nicker made me smile.

  5. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    Ho-hum…well, I liked ART THIEF and OILMEN (last two in). Another old man’s puzzle; Steve OVETT retired in 1991 and hadn’t done much since 1988; Dizzy GILLESPIE and “cat” is that sense is even more ancient.

    I think I’ve seen similar clues for PASSED OVER and SOAP recently – perhaps BH might help?

    What sort of definition is “red” for TOMATO?

  6. Old Tom (reminds me of a Robinsons beer)@3-I think it is a formation of forwards (ie players).

    Plenty of groanwortby gags here and if jazz fan =cat then cat can equal jazz fan.

    Not a puzzle for Ximmie purists but good fun.(I always need it printed out)

     

    Thanks all.

  7. We are relieved to hear that we are not the only ones to find Paul becoming more challenging, though not complaining. Didn’t know why it was Gillespie and had the same discussion re the forwards. We particularly enjoyed picnicker, oilmen and bistro. Thanks Peter0 and Paul.
    Hoping for a good bank holiday special tomorrow.

  8. Yes. Copmus@6. Once voted the world’s best ale. Have you tried the Ginger Tom? Very nice. No need for much “forward movement” when the scrum-half feeds the ball to the second row!

  9. Ref 27, the Girond department, on the Atlantic, is suffering from large scale erosion so ‘eroding’ it would seem, had a dual purpose

  10. Old Tom @8-I once sampled your namesake on tap in a boozer south of Manchester.

    To be respected. Didnt try the Ginger Tom.Great brewery.

  11. This was indeed a challenge, but worthwhile for some great penny dropping moments.  I was thinking for ages that 23d must be a river, but sometimes a runner is just a runner!  For 7d for a while I had THIEF but couldn’t get the first word – I was thinking of “pick” rather than “pic” (perhaps because of an ancient joke that involves teddy bears working on a building site and ends “Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picks nicked”).

    I thought 5d was brilliant when the light finally dawned.  I certainly don’t claim to be a hepcat, but I’m very much looking forward to going to the jazz festival in Clitheroe tomorrow.  (Wonder how Paul would clue Clitheroe?)

  12. I suppose that in a scrummage (well back in the day when there was such a thing in Rugby Union) one side pressed forward whilst the other was pressed back…

  13. Thanks for the blog, very helpful.

    Re 15, I think that “movement” = action – a scrummage is an activity undertaken by forwards in RU.

    Too hard for me, lost it in the NE, gave up, dnf. Lots of rather loose synonyms IMO – although I am always pleased to see Paul as the setter.

  14. Thanks Paul; too many homophones I thought made this very difficult.

    Thanks PeterO; a movement of forwards is perhaps like a murder of crows …

    I particularly liked the clue for OILMEN and the definition for PAVE.

  15. Thanks to Paul and PeterO. Struggled with this as I often do with lots of homophones, and quite a bit of guess and parse in retrospect. NE apart from one clue (phrase) in particular took ages. Worked out Gillespie but did not know why it was the answer, and gas lamp, film actor and art thief were the last ones in. Unlike Lord Jim I had the art bit, but thief eluded me for a while. I liked passed over, impoverished and battledore. Thanks again to Paul and PeterO.

  16. Thanks to Paul and PeterO. A challenge but fun. I could not parse BISTRO and missed that L in “challenge” for FILM ACTOR, and the initial O in OESOPHAGAL threw me off. LOI were PHRASE and GRAN where I needed the crossers.

  17. Thanks, both.

    A mixture of great clues (ART THIEF, PARTICLE, SHOPPING MALLS, GRAN) together with some I don’t care for like BISTRO, GAS LAMP, GILLESPIE, & FILM ACTOR, (‘challenge’ most profoundly – yeeuch)

    Taking others’ comments that Paul has morphed somewhat, I, for one, preferred his earlier style.  But that’s just a matter of taste.

    My most frequent beef about this setter is that he doesn’t always appear to make a great attempt to make the clue read as a sentence.  Forward movement not entirely substandard, guru admits.  What?

    Paradoxically, when he does work on the surface, the results can be fabulous; One leg in the air, donning knickers in public places.  Wonderful!

    Many thanks again, Paul, nice weekend, all.

  18. Fun Friday puzzle from Paul!  I enjoyed the homophone clues (especially BISTRO).  BATTLEDORE, my LOI, was solved strictly on the basis of the clued homophone and the crossers, as I was unfamiliar with (or perhaps forgot) the old sport.

    [But then, looking back, I recalled those heady days of my youth, when we used to celebrate Beltane with a battledore and shuttlecocks tourney, followed by a jorum of bummock.  Ah, yes, the Beltane battledore bummock, those were the days.  Incidentally, the projectile in battledore was originally named for a different bird species, but early proponents of the sport worried that the term shuttletit would elicit snickering and schoolboy humor, so they solved that problem by calling it a shuttlecock instead.]

    Back to the puzzle.   I had a long list of favorites today, including PAVE, GIRONDE, FILM ACTOR, PARTICLE, ART THIEF, and SHOPPING MALLS.

    Many thanks to Paul and PeterO and the other commenters.  Happy Star Wars Day everyone, and have a great weekend.

  19. I’m with andysmith @13 – a SCRUMMAGE in rugby is a “movement” that involves all the forwards and only the forwards of both teams, hence a “forward movement”.

    I enjoyed this (as usual for a Paul) despite failing to parse TOMATO and failing on BATTLEDORE (new word for me). I entered GILLESPIE from the construction and crossers, and could not see the (quite fair once revealed by the blog) definition.

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO.

  20. Two appearances of battledore on one day in Crosswordland – its obvious what our setters have been up to in their time off from creating devious crosswords.

    I found this quite tricky but got there in the end

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO

  21. As others, I found this a tougher Paul. Thought 5d was Tweetypie (Sylvester) as it seemed to fit the letters I had. Having cartoons in mind, couldn’t understand Gillespie when I got it.

     

    Thanks Peter and Paul

  22. This was very tough for a Paul! I failed on ART THIEF (should have thought of that) and needed the check button a few times.

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO

  23. Being Paul I was convinced there had to be some bra burning going on in 5a and spent far too long trying to justify merpeople for 5d. Not convinced by 10a but overall a great start to the weekend. Thanks for the bistro explanation – not sure that penny would ever have dropped!

  24. Like Dave @21, I thought of Tweetypie when I had only P_E at the end. However, GILLESPIE then became one of my six favourite clues, the others being OESOPHAGEAL, HOUSE ARREST, PAVE, THE MORE THE MERRIER and SHOPPING MALLS. I didn’t enjoy FILM ACTOR or ART THIEF.
    Thanks Paul and PeterO.

  25. Far too challenging for me I’m afraid – I abandoned ship half way through the voyage. I’m not sure I’ll ever be up to puzzles as tough (or as idiosyncratic) as that. Picnic and Shopping Malls did make me smile though.

  26. I know there’s a well-worn debate on this site about difficulty and the levels looked for by different people. I found this just too obscure and convoluted to enjoy. I would just never have got “the more the merrier” or “trooper.” Some of the definitions didn’t convince me either; “tie” as a synonym for “couple,” “refer” and “look up” and “phrase/frays and”gets stressed.” I’ve been doing the Guardian crossword over a very long time, 45 years or so but with gaps at some points. The level of difficulty has definitely increased and the parsing needed harder to work out. This has taken some of the pleasure out of doing it for me. It has become more of “a slog.”

    I’m afraid this crossword is now pitched too much at the very high-end solvers and not enough at the “middle-of-the road” enthusiast.

  30. 5Across. ‘Rents asunder’ is of course meaningless. The verb is to REND so it should have been RENDS asunder. As it said RENTS, I looked for some reference to TEARS, GASHES or the like but in vain. Setter error or usual sloppy Grauniad subbing?

  31. Crossbencher @30

    Chambers does give rent as an obsolete or dialect form of the verb rend; so perhaps not entirely meaningless, but, agreed, in all probability a slip on someone’s part.

  33. I’m with crossbencher @30 on rents asunder?  It would have been perfectly easy to say “rend.”

    Refer = look up?  In what sentence?

    Robi @14 I liked OILMEN.and the definition for PAVE too.

    Thanks, Paul and PeterO.

     

  35. muffin @29

    There is one arena, at least, in which you can expect “tomato” to be routinely used as a standalone word to denote a color (colour): clothing sold through online (or in the more traditional low-tech method, catalogue) shopping.  I Googled “men’s shirts color tomato” and this immediately popped up.  [Hmm, which color to choose: Earth, Pumice, Tomato or Blue Water . . . or Amethyst, Indigo, Mineral or Bermuda?  And let’s not forget Castlerock, Dark Olive, Khaki, Ochre and Rust in the long-sleeved design!]  Next time you see “grey” clued as a 10-letter word, you’ll thank me.

    I believe it would would not be difficult to locate many other examples of clothing available in “tomato” from online/catalogue vendors.

    Also, I’m no expert on house paint (or clothing, for that matter), but I expect that if you were to visit a paint store and examine all of the available shades of red, at least one of them would be called “tomato”.

  36. I also agree that Paul is getting more difficult. In fact, I gave up on finishing the puzzle with only about 3/4 of it solved – and after seeing GAS LAMP and FILM ACTOR, I was glad I didn’t try. However, I think that’s fine for a Friday puzzle.  My only complaint pertains to GILLESPIE. In my opinion, that clue just wasn’t up to Paul’s standards and it didn’t make me smile, just roll my eyes.

  37. DaveMc @35

    You seem to be making the point  that just about any word can be used as a proprietary colour! How about “chesterfield” (or “chameleon”, for that matter!)

  39. There were some great clues which have been mentioned (and I had ART THIEF in this category) and others that were a real struggle – in fact it was a dnf with BATTLEDORE and GRAN defeating the WK combined brains and BISTRO and PHRASE unparsed. TROOPER took ages but was relatively straightforward once I’d seen it – that is the mark of a good clue to me. SHOPPING MALLS was also much less contrived than I assumed it was going to be so whilst the puzzle was tough it wasn’t down to what I see as tortuous clueing.
    Thanks to Paul and PeterO.

  40. Similarly to David Stallard @26, I have been doing this crossword for about 50 years now, and used to rate Paul as second to the great Auracaria, but he has become more intractable of late. Still admirable in many ways, but less enjoyable. Crosswords overall are more diverse with less attention to surfaces

  41. I don’t agree with the naysayers on here. This was definitely a fair challenge which was ideal for a Friday.

    I parsed TOMATO a little differently but I think plausibly. TOM = male A TO(T) little bit lacking in tail.

     

  42. Only got to this puzzle this morning (Oz time) so my contribution will be too late to say much more. I found this a lot of fun, even though I couldn’t parse some solutions and had to either look things up or finally come here to have my guesses confirmed and explained. An interesting forum (worth sometimes coming in late to get a full range of opinions and to enjoy some funny contributions – eg DaveMc re BATTLEDORE – sorry on phone so no numbers). I can understand some of the grumbles especially regarding a couple of surfaces, but for me, Paul remains a firm favourite – always challenging and lots of quirkiness!
    Hope Derby day goes well for all attendees – and here’s to an enjoyable long weekend for those in the UK (we have one here in Queensland too – Labour Day).
    Thanks to Paul, PeterO and participants.

  43. @DaveMc Speaking as (no doubt) the ultimate commenter (and hence, no doubt, unread to boot), I’d just like to endorse the penultimate remarks from JinA and say that I too enjoyed your jorum of Beltane Battledore Bummock.

  44. And I’d do the same as the now penultimate comment from Gert Bycee – thanks DaveMc.

  45. David Stallard @ 26: Excellent appraisal.

    A few went in quite easily, then I tried to get some fun by hitting ‘reveal’ and trying to parse but didn’t get very far with that either.

    I had a moan last week about Paul getting harder and I’m seeing now that its not just me getting worse.

  46. ‘re. Muffins “old man’s puzzle ” comment does this mean no dead musician can be used in clues ?

  48. Very late to comment on this, but I too used to compare Paul with Araucaria, one reason being that he was absolutely solid, when you got a clue, you knew. No more. Personal hates are somewhat random phraseology this-means-take-the-last-letter-off applied to words not in clue: ill, espied, atom….. I know everybody does it now, but I think it’s sloppy (how much is to be cut?) and it stops you getting a clue from its construction. And as for ‘challenge most profoundly’ to mean ‘l’! Come back, old Paul!

  49. I missed ART THIEF. All I could think was ANT EATER (puts me off picnics) and reckoned THAI was wrong as I didn’t like tie=couple.

    Phil.

  50. Yes. This was one of the more challenging puzzles of late. For me a good thing as I solved at leisure in Saturday’s sun. Was defeated by definition for GILLESPIE. Having never seen ‘Cats’ and only lightly familiar with Eliot’s original, I lazily assumed it to be a name therefrom! Dizzy just didn’t occur….so thanks for that, Peter, and the self-administered kick.
    Agree Paul is sometimes a bit tricksier nowadays (though I recall some harder Paul prize puzzles from times past – when Prize puzzles seemed more challenging) but no complaints from me. He really is an outstanding setter with a broad armoury which he engages with varying levels of firepower. A very special compiler in my view.
    A wonderful blog, Peter O. Respect.
    And many thanks to both and all (enjoyed Dave Mc’s alliterative bummock).
    (I have Arachne’s prize puzzle to enjoy in this afternoon’s sun – we are very fortunate!)

  51. 5. and 46.  muffin and Old man: People on quizzes regularly say things like “Before my time, I’m afraid” as an excuse for not knowing the answer. However, when they are given questions about ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the American Civil War, the Russian Revolution etc., they don’t say that. I’ve never heard a quizmaster say to such competitors “Before your time, you say, but you’ve just answered a question about Oliver Cromwell.” So my question is: How much time is the acceptable amount of time before your time for you to get away with saying “Before my time”?

    46. Old man: Well said.

  52. If anyone else reads this comment, I will be very surprised! Took us a week t o do and only finally cracked on the plane to Zurich yesterday. However, we thought the Gillespie reference was to the film “In the heat of the night” where the police chief is Gillespie and the new policeman is “Tibbs” which is a common name for a cat….. But then we look for film references everywhere.

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